The Next Chapter
by SynStory
Summary: What happened after Angel tried to burgle Louis's house? How did the two go from thief and victim to lovers and friends? Rated T for language and mild adult content.


_A/N: This is set immediately following the line where Louis says "No. you tell me." Poor Angel is still holding the TV half in, half out of the window. _

Angel didn't know what to say. He felt like his arms were about to fall off, and he was extremely uncomfortable with the fact that a gun was staring him in the face. The black man looked like he could sit there all night, and he certainly wasn't volunteering any hints. Angel decided to continue with his abnormal honesty.

"Well, see, I just got outta Riker's, and I just saw that your window was open…" Once Angel had started talking, the words poured out of him, and before long he had told Louis about Vance, and Riker's and everything that had happened to him in the last year. Finally he stopped, rolling his shoulders a little to try and work the pain out.

"Say," The black man said, lowering his gun, "Come on in, put that damn thing down. I'm gonna go get some clothes on. You wait here." And just like that, he got up and walked to the back bedroom. With a sigh of relief, Angel hauled the TV back in and set it on the stand. _He's really just going to leave?_ He wondered. He took advantage of the opportunity, and dashed to the kitchen. He turned the lock and had one foot out the door when he felt a hand grab his arm and turn him around.

"Where you goin'?" he said, pulling Angel back into the house and firmly closing the door.

"Look, just shoot me already, would ya?" Angel said, wrenching his arm out of the man's grip. A tiny corner of his mind whispered to him that he would never have been able to pull away unless the man had let him, but he ignored that. "Whatever fucked game you're playin', I'm out. So either shoot me or lemme go, huh?"

The man looked at him, and Angel suddenly realized that Louis no longer held his gun.

"I ain't gonna kill you," He said. "I just want to talk."

Angel snorted. "Can I at least get a name?"

"Louis."

"that's it? Just Louis?" Louis's eyes narrowed and Angel was suddenly reminded that he was speaking to a very dangerous man.

"You got a name, or should I just call you 'hey you'?" Louis asked, avoiding the question of his last name.

Angel almost didn't answer, but he looked into those deep brown eyes and made a decision that he had never thought he would make; he decided to trust this man. "My name's Angel," he said.

"You want a beer?" Louis asked, going to the fridge and taking out a bottle of Guiness.

"Sure," Angel said, taking the second bottle, which Louis passed to him. "You really aren't gonna shoot me then?"

"Yeah, not anytime soon anyway," Louis said, and he led the way into the living room. "I was thinkin' of orderin' Thai, you want something'?" He asked, picking up a menu and a phone. Louis had no idea why he hadn't just shot the man as soon as he stepped through the window. And he was at a complete loss to explain why he was now offering to buy him dinner. He just knew that the deep blue eyes of the burglar sitting across from him held depths that he would be willing to go to almost any lengths to explore.

"You're seriously buying me dinner?" Angel demanded, voicing the very thought Louis himself had just had.

"I guess I am," Louis said, with a vague air of bewilderment.

He ordered the food and while they waited for it to arrive, Angel talked some more. He told Louis about the riots in Attica, old jobs he'd done, and some of the trinkets he'd come across. Both of the men went through more than a few beers.

The food arrived, and all through dinner the two men talked and talked; Louis began to tell Angel something of himself as well, of growing up in the south and moving to New York, and though he shared little information of actual importance, Angel was content to listen to that silky voice for hours. Finally, they had finished their food, and they sat in companionable silence. You would never know that just hours ago one of them had broken into the other's house and attempted to steal their television.

"Angel?" Louis asked.

"Yeah?" Angel replied, snuggling deeper into his chair.

Louis struggled for a moment to find the words he wanted to say, but nothing came so he did the only thing he could think of; he leaned over and planted a kiss directly on Angel's lips.

"Wha-" Angel started to pull away, but in that mouth was joy and peace and heaven, and instead he kissed back passionately.

"Well," he said when Louis pulled away for breath. "That was unexpected."

"Shut the fuck up," Louis said, pulling him back for another kiss.

Angel thought about reminding Louis that he had just tried to steal his television, but decided against it; instead, he pressed his lips into those of the most beautiful man he had ever met.

_Seriously? I've got to be dreaming_, He thought, but any other conscious thought was quickly drowned by Louis's hands, now roaming over his body. He tensed as he felt Louis's hand brush his groin, and he started to pull away.

"Sshhh," Louis murmured. "I'm not gonna hurt you." And Angel believed him. They stayed that way for the rest of the night, kissing and touching, until Angel fell asleep with his head on Louis's chest and, for the first time in either of their lives, both men felt completely safe and at peace.


End file.
